Pakistan

COVID claims two more lives; 693 fresh cases reported in Pakistan

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

NIH data indicates a marginal increase in new COVID-19 cases in Pakistan.
23,423 diagnostic tests were performed in the last 24 hours.
Positivity ratio in the last 24 hours was 2.96% across the country.

A marginal increase was witnessed on Saturday in new COVID-19 cases in Pakistan, data from the National Institute of Health, Islamabad (NIH) showed.

According to the NIH data, 23,423 diagnostic tests were performed in the last 24 hours, with 693 returning positive, indicating a 2.96% positivity ratio.

The virus claimed two more lives in the last 24 hours, bringing up the national toll to 30,464.

COVID-19 Statistics 23 July 2022
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 23,423
Positive Cases: 693
Positivity %: 2.96%
Deaths: 02
Patients on Critical Care: 180
— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) July 23, 2022

NIH said 180 COVID-19 patients are still being treated in intensive-care units (ICU) at various medical facilities across the country.

What is COVID BA.5 variant?

BA.5, part of the Omicron family, is the latest coronavirus variant to cause widespread waves of infection globally.

According to the World Health Organisation’s most recent report, it was behind 52% of cases sequenced in late June, up from 37% in one week. In the United States, it is estimated to be causing around 65% of infections.

BA.5 is not new. First identified in January, it has been tracked by the WHO since April.

It is a sister variant of the Omicron strain that has been dominant worldwide since the end of 2021 and has already caused spikes in case rates — even with reduced testing — in countries including South Africa, where it was first found, as well as the United Kingdom, parts of Europe, and Australia.

Coronavirus cases worldwide have now been rising for four weeks in a row, WHO data showed.

Why is it spreading?

Like its closely related sibling, BA.4, BA.5 is particularly good at evading the immune protection afforded either by vaccination or prior infection.

For this reason, “BA.5 has a growth advantage over the other sublineages of Omicron that are circulating,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, told a news briefing on Tuesday.

For many people, this means that they are getting re-infected, often even a short time after having COVID-19. Van Kerkhove said the WHO is assessing reports of re-infections.

“We have ample evidence that people who’ve been infected with Omicron are getting infected with BA5. No question about it,” said Gregory Poland, a virologist and vaccine researcher with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Latest News

Public servants now have a three-month notice period.

Published

1 min ago

Farwa

A circular from the finance ministry to all federal ministries and divisions of Pakistan required government employees to notify the competent authority three months before their voluntary retirement.

During the three-month timeframe, the ministry will have time to hire the retiring officials’ replacements.

After voluntary retirement, the ministry said 25-year government employees will receive pensions.

If retiring officials lose, an inquiry will determine accountability.

The finance ministry announced that several retiring officials had resigned and been accepted by authorities.

Officials’ extra-ordinary leave was not subtracted from the 25 years of pensionable service.

The ministry added that staff were ineligible for pension without the exclusion of extra-ordinary leave.

Reports last month stated the federal government would implement the Voluntary Pension Scheme on July 1 to replace the regular pension setup at IMF request.

All newly hired government employees will receive voluntary pensions on July 1, while old employees will receive official budget pensions. With employee permission, the government might switch pension schemes.

Latest News

Senior PML-N leaders want the X ban lifted.

Published

6 mins ago

Farwa

A veteran party leader and former railways minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, claimed the caretaker government’s social media ban didn’t help anyone.

Saad Rafique warned his party’s present government to avoid becoming a laughing stock since politics requires political moves.

“Bans and prohibitions come where dictatorship prevails over democracy,” PML-N veteran Javed Abbasi remarked of the social media ban.

“Can we ban matches factories fearing they ignite fire?” he asked. He said, “We scare of truth and try to keep it under the veil.”

He called the PML-N administration cruel for banning free speech.

The Interior Ministry said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday that X, formerly Twitter, needed to be banned since it violated Pakistani legislation.

Interior Secretary Khurram Agha reported on the high court’s rulings on the social media ban petition for the ministry.

Social networking site X was down for two months in Pakistan when the hearing took place.

Latest News

Former GB CM wanted for arrest

Published

9 mins ago

Farwa

Due to his prolonged absence, Senior Civil Judge Hidayat Ali issued a bailable arrest order for the former Gilgit Baltistan chief minister.

The president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Gilgit Baltistan chapter, Khalid Khurshid, was charged with obtaining a lawyer’s license from the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council by submitting a ‘fictitious’ University of London law degree and an affidavit to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad to obtain an equivalency

He was chief minister after running in the GB elections from Astore. Gilgit Baltistan Court dismissed him for a ‘fake’ degree and prosecuted him for fraud.

Read More: Khalid Khursheed disqualified for fraudulent degree

A three-member court of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court disqualified Khalid Khursheed Khan in a fraudulent degree case in July 2023 after Shahzad Agha, a GB Assembly member, petitioned against him.

The petitioner claimed Khursheed’s law degree was fraudulent and needed to be dismissed under Articles 62 and 63. Khursheed claimed a London law degree but could not prove it.

Khalid Khursheed, a close PTI aide, had served since December 2020.